The Motley crew and the Rainbow falls
by The Beta Version
Summary: An unusual group of characters get together to solve an urban legend about a magical multicolored waterfall. This is my first story and I hope people like it. I am very open to all criticism as long as it is constructive. enjoy
1. The Prologue

", look at this place!"

Scavo let these words slip out of his mouth. He knew he was looking for something beautiful but he didn't think he would actually find it.

Scavo had been searching for the Rainbow falls for over a decade. The Rainbow falls are one of the ten sacred homes of Pholtus, the god of all things good in there world. The water that cascades down the jagged rocks is always a different color and sometimes even multicolored thus giving it it's name.

He was one of the first humans to ever set his eyes on this wondrous sight. He had ventured there with his 5 brothers to harness the secrets behind them.

"Hey Scavo! There's an entrance over here!" his brothers yelled.

He quickly ran over and peered into the damp musty cave. All the brothers lighted there lanterns and descended into the dark cave. Scavo was hoping to find some sort of magical item or a hidden civilization tucked away at the end of this cavern. His excitement and there voices covered up the sound of soft footsteps coming from behind them.

Scavo reached the end and found nothing but a dead end.

"Quick start digging and try to knock down this wall. There has to be something here."

He started to pick away at the wall and his brothers followed. Scavo stopped to take a drink of water and when he looked behind him he was met with two bulging eyes and a sharp spear.

"AHHHH!"

The brothers turned and saw Scavo's limp body speared into the ground.

--

One day Ker'eg the gnoll happened to stumble across a book on the top shelf of the royal library. He was intrigued by the story and studied the book day and night trying to figure out what happened. After many years of study he decided that the only way to find out what really happened was to go there and see for himself. That night he started posting signs on all city information boards.

"Looking for adventure? Come to 290 Yertire Lane and I will promise you the greatest experience of your life."

Within two weeks he had a party ready to go out and they were on a roll until they hit a rather large obstical…


	2. The Beginning

The party of four hiked up a mountain trail in search for the pass to the other side. Leading the way with his book in hand was a battle scared gnoll in dirty leather armor named Ker'eg. He was only 6ft tall, short and scrawny for one of the fearsome wolf men warrior. Following Ker'eg closely was a fifteen year old half-elf named Iera, she looked cold but listened intently on what Ker'eg had to teach her. A few feet behind was an older women about twenty-three clad in chain mail armor but went with out a weapon. She was Noj she looked very much like a human but was actually a Xeph, a race that has tapped into the powers of psionics. Bringing up the rear was Drem, whose half demon blood was apparent in his pointed ears and swishing red tail.

"Don't touch me!" Shouted Noj as Drem tapped her on the shoulder.

It was only two days out from the city and Noj already didn't like Drem. He was a tiefling and well, she just naturally thought that tieflings were bad creatures.

"Stop being immature Drem." Iera said as Drem tapped her on the shoulder.

Drem, not getting the reaction he wanted ran up to Ker'eg and huffed,

"When we gonna get there Ker?"

Ker'eg stopped and looked around.

"Well, it looks like we might not be there for a while Drem."

Ker'eg, Drem, Iera and Noj all stood staring at the huge mountain range that stood before them.

"We gotta climb this to get to where we're goin'?" Drem moaned "Why don't we just do ourselves a favor and kill our selves now?"

"Drem, I am so tired of your complaining" Noj said "if you wanna go home then just go home we're gonna go whether you come with us or not."

Drem looked at Iera and Ker'eg for support but no one looked eager to jump into this argument, which weren't uncommon between the two.

Drem sighed,

"So how we gonna get to the top in a day? Looks like there's no where to rest or anything, just a vertical wall."

Ker'eg flipped through the diary.

"It says here that we are looking for some kind of cave like entrance. Obviously there are none around here so we must keep going and try to find it."

Everyone just sighed and followed him as he walked along the foot of the mountain. They walked and walked and walked without finding any signs of a path through the mountains. As night started to knock on their door and Drem started to complain about his legs hurting Ker'eg decided that it was time to set up camp.The hustle and bustle of setting up camp reminded him of his last days with his tribe back before the first gnoll war.

Ker'eg well remembered his time as chieftain of the Roughside tribe during the war. He had tried to show his men how strategy and cunning could work just as well, if not better, then their usual wild and savage attacks. His men, unfortunately, hadn't agreed with him and in the midst of a battle had turned on him and his guards. His sword had run red with the blood of his own tribe that night, and Ker'eg had barely escaped with his life. He implied his cunning strategies on himself and somehow managed to get away with only a large cut across his back.

* * *

"Okay, so we need to set up night watches. We'll have three changes during the night; who's gonna do the first." Drem said

Ker'eg awoke from his bad memory. "I will."

Drem wheedled, "Than I'll do the second shift. That's when I like to be awake anyway."

Iera excitedly announced, "I'll do last shift!"

"No you won't. Noj you wouldn't mind doing the last shift would you?" grunted Ker'eg with a meaningful head shake.

"That's not fair! Why can't I stay up and watch? I wanna do it!" Iera complained.

"I'd be happy to watch the last shift." stated Noj with a nod.

"Iera you can't, your only 15 years old you need your sleep." Ker'eg said soothingly.

Feeling completely denied Iera stormed off into the woods.

"Come back before it's my shift kid!" Shouted Drem with a smirk on his face.

"Shut up Drem. You're only three years older than her anyway. I'm letting you do this cause I know you and I can trust you to put up a good fight." Ker'eg said.

Drem just went and sat by the fire to check on his food.

Ker'eg sat by the fire reading Scavo's diary as he did his first watch. He was also half waiting for Iera to come back. As he started to get to the passage where it said how to get into the falls he suddenly he heard a scream and a loud roar from the woods.

"Iera! IERA!" Ker'eg shouted, not trying to hide his anxiousness.

Noj and Drem rushed out of there tents and looked around. Ker'eg had grabbed his bow and long sword and ran off into the woods. Noj and Drem looked at each other and Noj ran after him.

"Why me, why me. I don't even really like this girl." Drem mumbled as he grabbed his knife and chased after them.


	3. The Cave

Drem Quickly looked around for any signs of Ker'eg. He knew they needed him because he had the best dark vision out of all of them. He looked harder and finally found Ker'eg on the ground breathing hard. Drem ran over there.

"You alright? Are you gonna live? For the love of Pholtus don't die."

"Drem, I'm fine, maybe a broken rib or something. It's Iera and Noj you should be worried about. That thing took them. Go find them, I'll be fine." Ker'eg urged.

Drem looked down and saw that Ker'eg was bleeding from his arm and his left side. He got up and went toward the obvious path of this creature. Running through the forest trying to catch a glimpse of the monster Drem saw a mixture of blood feathers on the trees. He really hoped that the blood didn't come from Noj or Iera.

"Hello!? Noj!? Iera!? Anyone there?" Drem called out.

No one answered. He sat quietly for a few minutes hoping to hear the crazy beast. He tightened the grip on his knife. He remembered when he first learned the powers of this knife.

_The night that his parents were killed he took a chest that he found hidden under their bed. It had his name inscribed on it in infernal, his parents original language. He sailed down the stream until he reached a bank where he thought he was safe. He opened the chest at first he saw nothing. But when he looked closer he saw a small dagger at the bottom of the chest along with what seemed like instructions. _

_"Drem, if you are reading this we are probably dead," It was a letter from his parents. "the dagger inside this chest has been a family heirloom since we were born from the ashes of hell. Use it wisely and don't show it to anyone." _

_He looked around to see if anyone was coming, he looked the dagger over. It had a hilt wrapped in a red leather and the blade was no more than 6 inches long. It had a serrated edge and looked like it had never been used before. There were words inscribed on the blade along the non-serrated side. All of a sudden gnoll bandits popped out of the trees and bushes ambushing Drem. He screamed._

_"Save me!" and then, the knife grew and grew into a longer sword. Drem's mind went blank. When he woke again 9 gnoll warriors lay dead on the beach and Drem was covered in blood. Over the years Drem learned to control and manipulate the power of his knife._

* * *

Suddenly from his right he heard a loud roar. He dashed over there and was confronted by the unusually large legs of an eight-foot tall owl. He saw Noj and Iera lying on the ground behind it.

"Die you crazy monster!" Drem yelled as he charged in with his knife.

"_Servo meus vita quod attero is res!_"

As Drem recited those words his knife let out a blinding light and extended out like a spear and pierced the monster through a wing. When the light subsided Drem held a long, thin, spear like sword.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Drem shouted as he repeatedly stabbed the injured monster in the head.

Blood spewed out all over the place and by the time Drem calmed down his clothes were stained with blood. He walked over to Noj and Iera. He picked them up and slung them over his shoulder. He walked back to the camp and found Ker'eg.

"Hey you saved them…" Ker'eg looked into Drem's eyes and went silent.

Drem had grown horns on his forehead and he had black eyes. Drem put the two girls down and sheathed his knife. His horns disappeared and his eyes turned back into green then he fainted.

"Hey Drem, are you alright?"

Ker'eg checked his pulse, found it still beating and let him sleep.

By morning Noj and Iera woke up.

Ker'eg pointed toward Drem and said "Thank him, he single handedly killed that beast and brought you both back to camp. I was to hurt to go help you."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Hey thanks for saving us." chirped Iera. Noj just nodded her head toward him, she didn't like the idea of thanking him.

Drem just slept peacefully in the tent. When he woke around noon the party started to hike again. Scavo wrote that the group had found an easy pass through the mountains but it never actually specified where it was. It just said it lead to a miraculous city. They had been walking for a good five hours and as the sun was starting to get lower. Iera made a discovery.

"Look! There's a hole in the ground!"

"We're not falling for your stupid elementary tricks kid." Drem said.

"No really look. There's a cave like hole in the side of the mountain!"

When Ker'eg looked at first he couldn't see what she was so excited about but when he looked harder he saw a cave hole about 6 feet high and 3 feet wide that was well hidden and camouflaged into the side of the mountain.

"Hey everyone into this cave!" Ker'eg said excitedly.

He hoped that he discovered a passage through to the other side of the mountains that Scovo was talking about.

As they walked through the entrance they saw that the cave went pretty far into the mountain. Even with there dark vision the end was not clear. They slowly walked through the cave. As they went deeper it seemed to get brighter and brighter with an unreal green light. After they walked for more than half and hour Noj pointed,

"Hey look there's a door?! And it's giving off some kind of green light."

Ker'eg gasped. They had discovered a door made of adamantine. With out a worry Ker'eg walked up to it and pushed open the door and stepped through. Everyone followed hoping that he knew what he was doing and where he was going.


	4. The Admantine City

Ker'eg gasped. Inside the room, there was a whole city radiating a low green light, completely made from Adamantine. He flipped through the diary of Scovo and found the passage he was looking for

"_We fell upon a city radiating green. The walls were magnificent, majestic. Everyone was in awe."_

Drem leaped up and ran toward the inner walls, hopping with joy. When he reached a part of the path that was only covered in dirt he turned back and beckoned for them to come.

"Come on!" he yelled, running to the next patch of earth, "Maybe we can mine something!"

Noj and Iera went to follow, but Ker'eg stopped them.

"Something doesn't feel right."

Noj slowly turned her head toward Ker'eg and nodded, while Iera looked puzzled. "What could be wrong?" she asked, inquisitively, "It's just an inanimate city of metal; the only bad thing that could happen is that we dropped some on our foot while we were mining!"

"It says here in the book that the city was guarded by strange creatures that multiplied when killed. I don't see any strange creatures, do you?"

"Don't believe everything you read Ker'eg!" On that note, she skipped forward and followed Drem. Noj just shrugged and followed Iera. When she reached the same patch of earth that he was standing on, the city trembled and the ground shook. The soil beneath them began to rise and form into a semi-humanoid shape.

"The earth," Ker'eg shouted pointing at the creature, "Its moving!"

The creature stood up and then formed into six smaller ones, each one a different shape. Ker'eg was stunned. "These must be the creatures that Scavo was talking about."

Drem had his feet binded to the ground by the creatures and Noj just stared at the creature, as if it was stunning her with his invisible gaze. Iera was the only one to react.

"_Veneficus Requiro!" _White beams shot out from her fingertips and struck each creature in the chest. They seemed dazed for a moment, but then they split up into twelve new, foreign creatures; however, this did not stop Iera at all.

"_Vehementer Manus manus!" _ She clapped her hands and the shadowy outline of a hand came out from in between them. It picked the monster up by its head and threw it across the room. Shattering its head. The now lifeless creature crumpled on the ground and returned to the earth. She cast spell after spell after spell hoping to fight them off before they could hurt her friends. She was reminded of an incident from her school days, the day she was kicked out.

"Iera, stop it your hurting him!" Sandy said.

Iera had unknowingly cast some spell that kept Noah from getting up the ground. He was gasping for air.

"Iera, stop!"

"I can't I don't know what I did." Iera said.

A teacher came running and undid the magic. Iera was brought to the school head master. He told her that she was always causing trouble with her spells and hurting people. He said that she was not allowed to come to school anymore and that if she did she would be arrested and put on trial for trespassing.

From that day on she became an apprentice to a sorcerer on the outskirts of town and learned to control all of her magical powers. She could soon cast spells with such ease she became lazy and ignorant. Her mentor told her to go to the city and find someone that she could help and befriend.

That's when Iera stumbled upon Ker'eg who was looking for people that would help him in a quest. She decided this was the person she wanted to help and they became friends. When she thought about it he as probably her first true friend since her father died in the wars when she was 8.

* * *

"Iera watch out!"

With that she snapped back to reality. this wasn't a time to be nostalgic, her party was in trouble she had to save them.

Ker'eg pulled out one of his special arrows from his quiver. He howled and let it fly. Iera looked up and saw the arrow flying through the air.

"_glacies tempestas!_" Shouted Iera and the arrow exploded in the middle of the air.

A sheet of, what looked like mist, came falling down on top of the larger group of earth monsters. When the mist touched them they immediately froze and turned to ice.

"Thanks for saving our butts out their Iera."

Noj and Drem were still in shock from the fight and they couldn't say anything. Ker'eg and Iera went around smashing the ice sculptures and debating what just happened.

"I read about them in the ancient texts!" Iera said, "They are monsters that are formed out of the natural elements of the world. Fire, wind, water, and earth. Obviously those were earth."

Ker'eg thought about his option. He could risk getting into a fight with even a larger amount of monsters than he just faced and probably discover a path to the other side of the mountain. Or go back and try to find another place where they could cross.

"If the monsters attack again will you protect us again?" Ker'eg asked.

"Of course." Iera responded with a cheery smile.

It wasn't all the time that a group of adults had to depend on a mere fifteen-year-old for protection and Iera was enjoying every single minute of it. When all monsters were reduced to dust they started back in toward the city. They hoped to find an exit on the opposite side.

"Are you sure it's safe to go in there?" Asked Drem. "I almost got killed just then."

"Well, you don't have to follow us Drem. You can go off and find an easier way across if you'd like." Retorted Ker'eg.

Drem didn't like the idea of being left alone so he chased after everyone and went into the city. As they passed through the outer gates they got a glimpse of the whole city. It resembled any ordinary city save for the fact that everything from the walls to the shingles on the roofs was composed of adamantine

"Where could they have possibly mined so much of this stuff?" Whispered Noj.

"Well that's not what were here to find out," Kre'eg said "we need to get out of here fast before more of those things show up. I don't know how many are here but I don' plan on finding out."

"Uhhhhh. Too late." Iera said as she stared into the eyes of another earth creature which was backed up by hundreds more.

"Who's up for a little competition?" Drem asked with a sly smirk on his face.


	5. The Dwarf

"Drem, I don't think it's a good time to be cracking jokes

"Drem, I don't think it's a good time to be cracking jokes." Ker'eg whispered.

"I'm not kidding we should have a competition, who can kill the most of these things." Drem said.

Then the lead monster charged the party. It raised it's arms to smash Iera but then something pierced it's head and it crumbled into a pile of dust.

"That's one for me."

Drem had changed. He looked like he did the night when that huge monster attacked them. He had a look of pure evil in his eyes and charged into the group of monsters like a mad man.

Iera wasn't one for games but if it was to see who was more powerful she wouldn't pass up an opportunity to show up the older members of the party. She charged in casting a flurry of magic missiles that hit right on target. Drem was still going crazy, stabbing one creature after another. They seemed to be confused not understanding how they could be losing.

"_ustulo ray_" Iera sent 4 streams of fire out from her hands each snaking through the monsters burning them and turning them into ashes.

"There are so many!" Noj cried as she fought off another monster "When will they stop!"

At that moment Noj was hit over the head by the large arms of one of the monsters. She let out a grunt and fell to the ground. The monsters started to suck her into the earth.

"NO!" Iera screamed. "_contricio manus manus_"

Two shadowy hands came forth and attacked the creatures. It created a shield around Noj then the hands exploded, sending the monsters flying through the air and smashing against the green walls of the city.

"Are you okay?" Iera said

Noj was out cold. Iera was to weak to lift her and carry her to shelter so she had to stay there and protect her. The monsters never ceased to attack. She killed monster after monster, casting a variety of spells to ward them off. She could feel herself becoming weaker. If they kept this up she would run out of energy to cast spells. Drem to was looking exaughsted even as he stabbed another monster. He wouldn't be able to keep this up all day either. Ker'eg was still in pretty good condition but he was running out of arrows to use against these monsters since normal ones seemed to have no effect. It seemed that They were all going to die at the hands of these strange earth monsters.

Just as Iera was about to black out from exaughstion she saw a small man. Everything was blurry but she could see that he cast a spell. A huge flash of light ensued and then everything went black.

When Iera woke up she was in a comfortable bed in a nice room. She looked around and saw that her friends were all safely in there own beds resting.

"Seems like you woke up young lady," this voice was unknown to Iera, "would you like something to eat or drink?"

"Who are you and why did you save us?" Iera asked.

An armor clad dwarf emerged from the shadows of the room. He was carrying one of the mighty dwarven axes that seemed to be old but still used regularly.

"I am the last descendant of the original builders of this town. My name is Oobo Axehunter. My family built this city incase of emergencies in the upper world. We have lived here protecting it from any outsiders or monsters that may wander in."

"So why did you save us?" Iera asked. "Aren't we considered outsiders?"

Before he could answer Ker'eg awoke and Oobo had to go tend the wounds that Ker'eg had gotten during the fight.

"Since you are outsiders and I am the protector of this town I must give you two choices. You may stay and help me guard this hidden town forever or I will have to kill you." Oobo said with a grave look on his face.

Ker'eg looked at Iera then back at the dwarf.

"Who's to stop us if we want to leave?" Ker'eg asked. "Surely you do not intend on fighting all four of us?"

"I will do what I can to stop you. I'm no normal dwarf and I can hold my own."

"Well we will think and rest for now." Ker'eg said.

Oobo left the room and they heard him walk down the stairs.

"Ker'eg that guy isn't just a warrior he knows how to cast spell too." Iera said cautiously. "I don't know if any of us can stand up to a combination of powers like that."

"Well we can't just stay here until we die. We will never find out the secret power behind the Rainbow Falls and your mother will have my head. I'm going to look through the diary again to see if there's anything on here about this guy." Ker'eg said. "Quick, wake the others if you can we need to make a plan."


	6. The Psycic

"Here it is," barked Ker'eg excitedly. "A small man only half our size helped us escape these horrid monsters."

Everyone was gathered around Ker'eg's bed, listening closely to what he had to say about leaving this cavern.

"Does it say anything about killing this guy, he annoys me," Drem asked forcefully, he wasn't adapting well to the fact that he might be stuck here forever.

"Calm down Drem, it's not like Scavo was stuck here forever. He had to have found a way out, right?" Iera looked toward Ker'eg hoping she wasn't wrong.

"It says here that this dwarf saved them, brought them to a room, and gave them the choice of staying here or fighting him to get out." Ker'eg looked up from the book and sniffed the air, "He's coming back, everyone go back to your beds."

The door opened and the dwarf walked into the room. He had changed into a set of armor and was carrying a large axe on his back. Strangely the blade seemed to be made of crackling energy that brightened the room with almost a blinding light.

"Alright folks, it's time to decide whether you stay or die," Oobo said. He had a dominating presence with his axe in hand and his strong stout body blocking the doorway.

"If we choose to fight what will be the circumstances," Ker'eg growled.

"One on one, each person fights me, if one wins everyone gets to go unless they are already dead or mortally wounded." Oobo grinned and a chill went down Ker'eg's spine. He didn't like how this was going to end.

"Okay, then we'll fight you." Drem challenged. Everyone turned their heads toward Drem with mouths open and a look of shock in their eyes.

"Drem are you crazy," screamed Iera.

"If you don't die after this I'll make sure to kill you myself," added Noj. Ker'eg just shook his head in astonishment.

Oobo looked around "Your choice is set then. Whoever wants to fight me first I'll be waiting outside." Drem got up and started going toward he door following the dwarf down the stairs, Ker'eg stopped him.

Ker'eg whispered in Drem's ear. "I know you said we would fight but that doesn't mean you have to fight first." Ker'eg looked at Drem and just stepped back. He let Drem, who had already entered his possessed form, go down the stairs.

"So you're first, eh?" Oobo wielded his axe in his left hand and carried a shield in his other. Oobo was clad in a grand set of armor made of adamantine. "You can't kill me, my weapon is a match for any kind of magic or armor." Drem unsheathed his knife and let it grow to the size of an average sword. Ker'eg and the others were watching from the window.

Drem shouted, "die you ugly dwarf," and charged in, attempting to spear Oobo. Drem sliced through the dwarf and cut him in half, but then his image faded and Oobo appeared above him on top of a home.

"You have to be faster than that, just because I'm a dwarf doesn't mean I'm slow." Oobo leaped from the top of the home with a surprising speed and landed next to Drem. Drem was so shocked he couldn't even react. Drem was relying on his leather armor to stop that strange axe.

Drem braced himself for the impact, Ker'eg watched as the axe was swung and made contact with Drem, the axe seemed to go clean through the armor itself and hit Drem directly. Drem started coughing up blood and blood started to seep out from under his armor. Drem fell to the ground.

"NO! Drem hang in there," Ker'eg barked.

"What just happened," Iera asked, "it looked to me as if the axe went through the armor and hit him directly."

Ker'eg shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know what happened but this is going to be harder than I thought it would be."

Noj sat silently watching the whole thing. She suddenly got up from her chair and started out the door. "I will defeat this dwarf and make up for all the times that I have been useless in battle since the start of this journey."

Ker'eg sighed. "What makes you think you'll do any better than Drem? Do you know a way of defeating his axe?"

Noj paused and decided it was time that she could show him the secret that she had been keeping for so long. She closed her eyes and then blades of raw energy burst into being in her hands. She now wielded two swords that glowed with energy.

"These are my weapons, I believe they are immune to the effects of that strange axe, my body is also covered by armor made of the same thing."

Ker'eg looked her up and down, "why didn't you tell us that you had psionic powers before? We could have used them."

Noj looked down in shame, "my teacher always told me never to show outsiders my skills because they will take advantage of me, I'm truly sorry."

"No need to apologize, I understand, just beat that dwarf so we can keep going on our search." She nodded and went down to the street and picked up Drem. She brought him back inside and lay him on a bed. Iera went over to heal his wounds.

Noj stepped back outside. She faced the dwarf and brandished her weapons. Oobo showed a slight sign of surprise on his face but hid it immediately. There was no bad talk from the dwarf this time he just charged in with his axe.

Noj swiftly blocked the axe with one sword and attempted to stab the dwarf with the other. Her sword pierced through the armor and she cut off one of the dwarf's hands.

"Aargh! You monster no weapon should be able to stop my axe." Oobo screamed on the ground. Noj went over to him and she put her sword through the dwarf's skull. His body went limp and he died. Noj went back up to the room with everyone else.

Ker'eg asked, "how did you beat him so easily? Oobo was so much better against Drem."

Noj shrugged, "I think that Oobo was using some kind of mental trick on Drem, my armor repels those kinds of attacks as well." Ker'eg looked over at Drem, he was looking better, his cut was closed thanks to Iera and he was breathing normally again.

"Tomorrow we set out to find the exit from here and hopefully to the other side of these mountains," Ker'eg barked.


	7. The Crater

"I found it I found it!" Iera squealed, "I found the exit before any of you guys!"

"I'm happy for you Iera, could you please show it to us." Drem said in a sarcastic happy voice.

"Your just jealous Drem. It's over this way, come on I'll show you." Iera ran off toward the center of the city.

Everyone followed her through the twisted streets and the narrow alleyways until they reached an open gate which lead up to a green door similarly strange to the one they had come through.

"Wait," Noj stopped and turned toward Haka. "What does it say happens when you leave, what's on the other side of that wall."

Haka flipped through the book quickly scanning the pages to see if he could find anything.

"Ah, it says that once Scavo left the cave, his party walked for miles and miles looking for any sign of civilization." Haka stopped reading and flipped some pages.

"What then?" Iera questioned.

"Well," Haka looked up at the group. "That's the last entry until the next month where it says that they were taken to a large crater in the middle of a vast open wheat field."

Haka wasn't sure what that lengthy gap in the diary could mean but after going through this cavern he was hoping that Scavo and his team were having to good a time to write it down.

"Let's just keep moving then, we won't find out what's ahead until we see for ourselves." Haka moved up to the door and pushed it open, he could see the blue sky at the end of the long tunnel.

"Wait guys," Iera looked around worriedly, "where did Drem go?"

Drem came dragging a large rather heavy looking bag up the hill. He was a good fifty-feet behind.

"Drem what do you think your doing?" Haka growled. "You realize that we're pretty far behind schedule with that crazy dwarf guy holding us up back there."

"I know" Drem smiled, "but I couldn't pass up a chance to mine some of the most valuable metals in the world, I had to get some."

He opened his bag and he had sheets of roof shingles that were made of adamantine stacked up in his bag.

Haka just shook his head and kept walking, Iera and Noj both had a look on there face that was a mixture of being annoyed and just plain shocked.

When Haka reached the end of the tunnel he saw a large field with a forest of giant trees bordering it. A large raging river roared through the center, Haka took in a large breath and howled.

"It's nice to finally breathe in some real air!"

Iera and Noj both sat down in the grass and just lay there enjoying the nice breeze and the grass against their backs.

Drem was still quite a ways back dragging the bag along,

"Anyone want to help me here?" Drem was panting and sweating, "I'll share some of what I make after selling all this."

Haka laughed and went back to help Drem. Haka carried the metal back and Drem just dragged himself out of the tunnel. Drem came out into the sunlight and lay down right at the entrance, he smiled and sat up. He watched as Haka walked over to the river with his bag of goods. Haka suddenly dumped the contents of the bag into the river.

Drem jolted upright and ran toward Haka screaming.

"What did you do? I almost killed myself getting those." Drem frantically looked into the river seeing if he could grab at least one sheet but the raging river swept the adamantine away.

Drem stared at Haka with such sad eyes,

"How could you."

"Drem, just think, we aren't going to be going near a city for a long time and you nearly died trying to carry this bag for a mere two-hundred feet, it was only going to weigh you down in the end." Haka smiled and threw the bag at Drem.

Drem looked back at the river then at the bag. He sighed,

"I guess your right, but why couldn't we even just keep one, we could have made a fortune off of that one piece."

Haka was in such a good mood he didn't even feel like arguing. He just chuckled and walked back to were he left his pack at the entrance of the cave.

He bent down to pick it up and when he looked back up he was staring into the head of a sharp spear that glistened in the sunlight.

He looked down and saw a human like creature about four feet tall and rather skinny. It had on a shirt and some pants which lead Haka to believe that it was part of a civilized community. Haka backed away slowly he turned to see that a bunch of these strange men seemed to have risen out of the tall grass and surrounded the rest of his party.

"Do you guys speak common." Haka nervously asked the small man, not wanting to say anything that could result in anyone getting hurt.

The small man just looked at him then pointed toward the woods with his hand then showed Haka a blindfold and some rope hand cuffs.

He looked around and the other small men were also trying to put the blindfolds onto Iera, Noj, and Drem. Iera and Noj weren't putting up to much of a fight but Drem on the other hand was ready to explode.

"Don't touch me with your tiny hands!" Drem was getting to the point where he was going to hurt someone.

"Drem, stop fighting it will just get worse. Calm down and we'll think of something." Haka barked.

Drem stopped fighting and was blindfolded. Haka was then blindfolded and hand cuffed. Haka heard 3 small grunts.

"What's going on out there, don't hurt anyone."

The small man raised a club and brought it down on Haka's head. He fell to the ground and then everything went black.


End file.
